Putin on US strikes on Syria and chemical weapons: “It’s boring, ladies.”

Question: Mr
Putin, if I may, I have a question about Syria. What is your take on what is
happening in Syria? Is there a danger of another US military strike against
Syrian targets?

Vladimir Putin:
We discussed this with the President. I said that this reminds me very
much of the events of 2003, when US representatives in the Security
Council showed
alleged chemical weapons discovered in Iraq. A military campaign in Iraq
ensued, which ended with the destruction of the country, an increased
terrorist
threat and the emergence of ISIS on the international scene – no more,
no less.

The exact same thing is happening
now, and their partners are nodding approvingly. In this connection, our
remarkable writers, Ilf and Petrov, come to mind, with their famous line, “It’s
boring, ladies.“ We have seen this all before.

Why
is this happening? Everyone
wants to restore relations in the Western community after – thanks
to the former US administration – many European countries adopted
an anti-Trump
position during the election campaign. Syria and Russia, as a common
enemy,
provide a wonderful platform for consolidation. We are ready to put up
with
that for a while in the hope that it will eventually lead us to some
positive
trend based on interaction.

For consumption within America,
there are reasons for this. Simply put, political opponents of the incumbent
president are still out there, and if anything happens, it will be blamed on him. I have no doubt about that.

Now about whether new attacks are
possible or not. We have information from a variety of sources that such
provocations (I cannot find another word for this) are being prepared in other
parts of Syria, including in southern suburbs of Damascus, where they are
planning to plant certain substances and accuse Syrian authorities of using
them.

However, we believe that things like this should
be thoroughly investigated. We plan to officially address the appropriate UN
institution in The Hague and call on the international community to thoroughly
investigate these matters. A weighted decision can then be taken depending on the findings of the investigation.